What's ironic is when RAH's last contract was negotiated, scope was where it was at. If it wasn't for our scope clause, the 50 seat drivers would be out of a job. As it stands, they are still the majority of pilots on the RAH seniority list. That leads me to my point:

Scope is the most important playing card pilots have in their pocket. Protect your scope and you protect your job. I could care less how big the jet is...the smallest jet at a legacy carrier beats the biggest jet at a regional carrier any day. The industry ain't what it used to be...but it's better towards the top than it is towards the bottom.

The smart play in a CAL/UAL merger is this (pretty much what BoilerUp said...he's the smart one around here): let the carriers with contracts for 51+ seats play out their contracts. At the end, they waste away and are picked up by mainline pilots. So you go from a 737 to a E170...guess what?! You still have a friggin' job.